The Prince Is Abolished

Chapter 2

Xi Mang was the eldest Prince of the Mi kingdom. He was absolutely a sight to behold with his dashing looks and burning brown eyes. He exuded force and power and his majestic height could make any woman fall to his charm. But he never gave his heart to anyone.

He did enjoy the admiring glances but his heart was always under the control of his head. And the head only thought of politics and how to leave a mark in the history of the country as its most powerful ruler.

Although superior to his brother in military achievements, political machinations, and usage of brute force, he still kept a lookout for any challenge that could take away his chance to be the Crown Prince of Mi.

For him absolute devotion to power was part of his purpose. His dream was to expand the borders of Mi, annex the 8 nearby countries, and make them one domineering Mi state. This dream drove him to seek alliances everywhere. Today at the night of the festival of color he had come to seek information from an envoy of Avang state.

Avang shared a bloody history with the Mi kingdom. The river that was in between the two states led to several Water Wars that claimed the lives of thousands of people over many centuries. However, the present King of Mi, Xi Lang, was able to get the two states to agree to a water sharing agreement under which no one will be allowed to divert water by digging trenches wantonly. Later, trenches were dug at both sides at equal distance under royal leadership of both sides to divert water towards the fields and the wells.

The water sharing agreement achieved by his father was also his greatest achievement. This enabled both the countries to engage in trade as well and both prospered to some degree.

But Xi Mang never saw it as an achievement but more like a compromise. In his view, annexation of Avang would have been a better and a permanent solution.

The envoy he was to meet was a mercenary who he hoped to seek cooperation with. But to his disappointment the envoy refused to help him because the prince had nothing in his coffers and even his personal armed guard strength was not more than 1000!

'You think big, but have nothing. If you want to aim big, then you must have at least 1 million gold coins and the strength of 10,000 armed men.'

'I will get there, if you...'

'I cannot put my head on chopping board for your idle dreams. Your ambitions need the backing of money and manpower. I bid you good bye. Let us not meet until you have it!'

The envoy had brushed of his suggestion mostly because he was offered just 1 kg of gold and a few pieces of ruby. This much he could raise within 24 hours while also keeping his honorable position as the envoy of Avang.

No money but wants to control the 8 states! Just an idler...wasted my time!

The prince came out of the tavern after this unsuccessful meeting and was standing with his bodyguard when they spotted two female thieves running amok.

One was a woman in red and golden dress and another one in a pale blue dress with some men chasing them.

The one in blue dress got caught but the red-veil one was running around and dodging the men like a hen in full sprint. Her energy and stride made him curious and for a while he forgot about the sour encounter with the Avang envoy.

Determined to get at least something achieved to satiate his ego, and to still feel in-charge, he chased after the veiled thief. The thief bumped into his chest and toppled down as if she hit a wall. Xi Mang knew he was powerful, but this little act even took him by surprise.

He stood and stared in disbelief at the woman, while she tried to regain her senses after a knock-out fall. Xi Mang, was impatient and extended his right arm to grab her from her shoulder.

But she missed the sign and thought that the gentleman wanted to help her stand up and put her hand into his.

Xi Mang was both surprised and amused at this audacity and haughtily took the veil off her face. A pair of warm brown eyes and a perfect round face appeared and he was awestruck by the heavenly beauty that he had just picked from the street.

When her eyes met his, he too recognized a bit of admiration for his own great looks.

'Who are you? Thief?'

'No. I am running away from my guards. They want to take me home. My friend has already been retrieved by them and now they want to make me go as well. I want to stay till I see floating lamps in the river. Last year, I slipped on a rock when I went to light a floating lamp...from then on, no more floating lamps for me, as ordered by my father. I came to light one today.'

She wanted to lie first but the gentleman had pulled her up and then, was kind enough to hear her and he looked so handsome! To Lu Ran, his pull was magnetic, he looked majestic staring at her with keen eyes, and her own heart aware of this proximity with him was beating so wildly, that she didn't have the creative energy needed to conjure up any kind of wild lies.

Seeing that the man was still doubtful, and was weighing her story on the truth scale, she pulled her right sleeve up and showed him a brown mark.

'When I fell down, I also spilled burning oil here...see this mark? Physicians told my father that even slight delay in treatment would have damaged muscles of my hand.'

'So you were careless about your safety, hence, your family fixed it for you. And, then you again run away a year later to pull a similar stunt?'

'w...what?'

Lu Ran thought the stranger was mocking her but what she didn't know was that she was the object of his absolute attention. Her clothes exuded her status and her delicate face and her skirt embroidered with golden thread had transformed her into a flaming vixen in his eyes.

What a woman!

As the conversation had shut down with nothing coming from the stranger's side since he again started gawking at her absently, Lu Ran decided that it was best to leave him.

'I must leave...thanks...err...for...bye.'

Before Xi Mang could come out of the spell, Lu Ran had run away, and then turned a bit and waved at him.

Prince Xi Mang clutched his fists tighter to stop them from waving back at the beauty who had mesmerized him.

Then something occurred to him and he told the guards to go after her.

'Find out who she is.'

The guard ran in her direction, while Xi Mang kept looking in the direction where she had vanished, not knowing where to go next.